I love this Holy Day. After the Fast, it is such a celebration of renewal, growth; a fresh start with a more centered mind and heart.

The weekend before Naw Ruz, the children and I set up the Naw Ruz tree. I have no problems commandeering traditional signs of spring such as eggs and flowers and rabbits and lambs from the Easter froofara (I like that word. It is a word. See, I just used it.) and using it in our home. So we gleefully filled up corners with bunnies and bouquets and spring peepers.

The Baha'i day begins at sunset, so after our special kheer and fresh fruit, I hid a set of glow in the dark eggs. This is seriously one of the best ideas I've had in ages. It meant the kids got to hunt for eggs in the dark to kick off the celebrations for this new year right away. I generally shy away from plastic, but I figured these are perfect for us, and we will use them for many years to come. They were fun!

Today, my mum came down for the grand chocolate-eating that comes with the Naw Ruz cones (there were other things involved, such as mustache finger tattoos and a new "Silly Billy" for Asher, but chocolate is the most important part). Why do I love doing these same small things even more with each year?

Along with the chocolate,etc the children also received giant bubble wands/tubes. It was super windy and gusty in the back yard, and when they blew the bubbles, it was like nothing any of use had ever seen. Instead of popping, the bubbles were bounced and whirled, gusted, multiplied, swept up and around us in the most magical, incredible display any of us had ever seen. If you have never blown bubbles in an enclosed space on a windy day, you really, truly must. It was not something I could even begin to capture in photos, but we will all remember it forever.

We went for a walk downtown, stopping for lunch, the playground, a peek at the river, a browse through the bookstore.

When I got home, I realized we had the very first blossom on our plum tree. Wasn't that clever of it?

Alright. This is the last one of the bits and bobs and then we are all nicely documented and caught up just in time to disappear again. Isn't that just how it goes? These are mostly from last week, and of nothing in particular. Just snippets of days to remember.

Asher's toys, Simon working on a bookshelf, squishing Asher, Asher and Bella playing their new game, and me working on finals.

I know I shared this on Facebook, but the other day, after I'd said prayers with Asher, he quietly asked, "Mom, is it possible to say prayers for anyone who might need it, even if we don't know who they are?" I still tear up thinking about his soft voice in the darkened room. The earnest sincerity and unself-consciousness of it. It has also reminded me to really think about what I do as a parent. How my job is not to teach my children things, but to provide them with the tools and environment that enables them to become the shining people they intrisically are and yearn to be. Because I couldn't teach Asher to pray like that. So humbling, in the very best of ways.

And since I'm on a parenting/ my kids are awesome kick anyway, there is also this: Ai Ana will complete her first Fast this evening. For nineteen days, she has not eaten or drunk from sunrise to sundown. She has handled it all with a grace and ease I find astounding. She is now at the point where she can accomplish things which I cannot (ie-lasting for more than three hours without crumpling into a pathetic ball of exceedingly cranky misery). Sometimes the older I get, the less certain I feel that I understand much of anything at all. I'm just lucky I get to come along for the ride.

We have been celebrating like crazy over here! It is unusual for Ayyam'i'Ha to fall completely within the middle of the week, but that is just what happened this year. It means squeezing in all of our celebrating between getting home from school and going to bed, but we somehow manage. Imagine that.

One of the things about being a Baha'i is that there really aren't set traditions or any sort of ceremony attached to our holidays. In some ways this is quite challenging as it calls for a lot of creativity on our part. But mostly, it is very freeing as it means we can express our joy in whatever way we choose. So here is a partially documented round-up of what we did this year in our family:

We participated in a community-wide celebration. The children's class made gifts for everyone (origami boxes with special treats inside), sang songs, organized an "international" potluck, and performed a play for everyone.

The children took in (tons of) cookies to thank the teachers and staff at their school.

We also sent cookies to Grandma's co-workers and for Grandpa to pass out as a thank you to all of his nurses and care-givers.

We helped organize/participated in another children's class party that was based around acts of service and making gifts for them to give in that community.

We are going to do a big shop and donation of the most needed items for our local food bank. We haven't been able to do that yet, so we will this weekend.

All of these things took place in the wider community, and I sadly failed to photograph any of them.

However, we also did a lot of things at home, and I did a better job at documenting these things.

We put up our Ayyam'i'ha decorations and pocket board.

We had special foods: teas (with piles of cookies and pomegranates) and dinners(wild mushroom pasta and seafood dinner with crackers and takeout Chinese and pot roast) and cereal for breakfast (honey nut cheerios!) and treats in lunchboxes (pumpernickel bread! ha!).

This is our time for gift-giving, so of course there was lots of that as well. We do try to keep it fairly simple with one day reserved for gifts from family, one when the children give their gifts, one for books (which I ordered from the UK and arrived in a Royal Mail bag-- how fun is that?), and one for our gifts to the children.

It was very sweet to see the time, thought and effort the children spent on these gifts. The girls gave Asher lego in a cigar box with a plate glued to the top as a travel case, Asher (with a bit of help from me) gave them covered hot water bottles and hair pins, and Ana made me this stunning barn swallow print and stamp.

The children also went off to school this morning sporting new Harry Potter t-shirts. Hee hee.

We do try not to give the books until nearer to the end, though, as once they are opened everyone disappears:

(in the spirit of full disclosure, Simon is bent over a scratch map I gave him to record his travels on, not a book).

Everybody's favourite part, however, is working through the various tasks and clues we give them before they can get to their gifts. Here are some of the highlights from this year:

We put scrambled letters that spelled out the title of a song in practice golf balls. We then put the balls in an empty tissue box, tied it to a child, and they had to shake the balls out (no hands!). They had to figure out the song, whose lyrics gave them a clue as to the location of the next song title and so forth, until they eventually found their presents. For example, "i am the Walrus" led them to the egg carton in the fridge.

We suspended their clues from the ceiling fan using toilet paper (our living room ceiling is vaulted). They had to shoot them down with rubber bands.

They really wanted to do another round of going up against Daddy with a paper bag on his head. They had to neutralize him by sticking something in his back pocket without getting caught. Of course Asher ended up getting squashed, and it all ended in tears. But they still love doing it. Don't ask me...

They had to scale the living room wall in order to retrieve a clue. That was extremely entertaining to watch, I must confess.

Overall, I have to say we've had a pretty good go of it. It makes me so happy to see my children enjoying themselves so whole-heartedly. It can be difficult to be different, but they are happy and content to be who they are, and there is no greater gift than that.

What a week this is turning out to be! We have certainly covered the good, the bad and the ugly quite throroughly.

I had my last visit to the doctor for a good while (I hope), but Ana caught a virus that laid her flat and then Asher caught a stomach virus. He woke me up at 2am, having vomited copiously all over his bed, the carpet, the bathroom... I have never missed Africa and her tiled floors so much as I did at 3am this morning.

Asher is now lying in bed, resting, sleeping, reading and learning how to sip gingerale veeerrrryyyy ssslloowwwwwwlly indeed. This, and apple juice gelatin cubes, is all he's managed to keep down. Poor boy. At least he is no longer panicking and saying he thinks he is going to die.

We have also begun a bit of preparation for Ayyam'i'Ha. We baked pepernoten, haji badam and pecan Mexican wedding cakes (I think the last estimate was around 350 cookies in the house). We put a hyacinth in the family room, sent out parcels and hung up the bird banner. There has been a lot of hiding behind closed doors to work on things. It is that time of year!

Ana's birthday came and went, and was a lovely day. Simon had flowers delivered. Bella made her a prayer book. Asher wrote her a poem. We went out for ice cream, and she got to talk to her daddy (all the way from Juba), her grandparents, and two sets of aunties and uncles.

I finally finished my midterm exams and papers, and caught up on everything I have missed recently. And Simon sent me flowers. That was unexpected, and lovely, and I have learned to appreciate the orange ones, too.

Now if only we could just get healthy, all at once! The sun is shining, the first daffodils are peeping out, and I even spied a solitary crocus on our lawn.

Having already looked at 0-3 and 4-6, we finished our exploration of digits with 7-9.

Seven

Seven can be found in the cycle of time through the days of the week. There are seven seas, and seven colors of the rainbow (albeit this can be debated). In mystical traditions (particularly Sufi and Baha'i), the journey of spiritual maturation and insight progresses through seven valleys (search, love, knowledge, unity, contentment, wonderment and "true poverty and absolute nothingness"). Seven is also the meeting of the triangle and square.

Eight

The octopus and spider show us eight in their limbs, a complex expression of bilateral symmetry. Eight is the octave, the basis of western musical sounds. Eight is also the octagon and two squares brought together.

Nine

Nine is the final digit. It symbolises fullness and completion. Nine months bring a baby into our world, nine objects make our solar system (the sun and its eight planets). Nine, as three groups of three, brings incredible depth and wealth of diveristy. Nine is used to test purity in chemistry, and its unique properties mean that it can be used to check the accuracy of incredibly complex equations. We looked at the properties of nine and its multiples, the astonishing way it behaves. If you make a cross-section of a mitochondrian, we find a nine pointed star. Finally, nine is the symbol of the Baha'i Faith.

These last three numbers completed our review of the digits. We continue to notice these numbers around us, to look at how they interact, where they are found, the patterns that they represent and create. The purpose in doing this review was to remind Asher of how integral math is to our existance. We can not seperate our reality from numbers, patterns and beauty that is math! Asher has become a lot more enthusiastic about math again, and we are better at finding it and talking about it at home. Our next stage to the review was to explore groupings of ten. More soon!

Like two, and all even numbers, four has an element of balance. In looking at four, we found it in the four directions, the seasons, and the elements. We found it in the four aspects of ourselves: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. It is the standard measure for a lot of music (4/4 time; notes use base four). Geometrically, four relies on a set of parallels in squares, diamonds, rectangles, etc.

Five

Five can be found in many places in the natural world. It is one of the more common numbers of petals to be found on flowers for example, and forms the star in the middle of a sliced apple. The human body, with its four limbs and head, forms a five, and we have five fingers and toes. This is one reason why a lot of counting is done on base five. The world consists of five kingdoms (mineral, vegetable, animal, human and spiritual). Geometrically, five makes a pentagon and a star.

Six

Six is interesting because it can be made of groups of either odd or even numbers. The geometry of six in a hexagon is one of the most efficient uses of material (which is why bees use this shape to build). The six pointed star further illustrates the idea of six as being groupings coming together in its form of two triangles. Six also brings complexity and added dimension through cubes. Places we find six in the natural world include snowflakes, daffodils (and other flowers) and the legs of an insect.

Asher used to love math and playing with numbers. I did a lot of math activities with the children in Malawi, as I felt that they weren't given a great introduction to really understanding numbers and how to play with them and observe them in daily life. In my own experience, math was either my favourite subject or the most detested. I really wanted my children to learn to enjoy numbers and math, so I tried to be proactive.

Now the children are at school all day, and the younger two have a math program that basically consists of self-paced worksheets. Ugh. Ana has started an integrated math program for high school that she enjoys, but Asher has come to have a less than warm response to all things mathematical. I also saw that he has forgotten a lot of what he once knew. I do love the children's school, as do they, but the math program is really a gaping weakness. So. This break, Asher and I are starting from scratch and reviewing what he should know and be comfortable with as a third grader. I thought I would share what we do as it might be helpful for others.

We began with a review of the basic properties of the digits 0-9. We looked at several a day (I wouldn't do this if I were introducing them), and made a page about each one. Some days he was feeling more artistically inclined than others, but we got through. :) We talked about a lot more than what I list (and what we drew) below, especially over the course of time. But this gives you a few ideas to begin with. I'm starting with 0-3 today, and will upload more as I have the chance.

Zero

Zero is potential. It is the point of generation, and what allows growth and decline, addition and subtraction, positive and negative, to take place. Sometimes it is thought of as a mere place holder, but I like to go a bit Zen with it. Far more exciting (and accurate, really).

One

One is fascinating as it is both underlying unity of form and uniqueness simultaneously. We looked at both the individual and the oneness of humanity; the unity of God; the earth, peace (Asher's idea), and in terms of geometry, globes and circles. It is both infinitely divisible and inherently whole.

Two

Two illustrates balance and equality. Like the yin and yang, two apparant opposites provide stability and completion. We talked about many of these "opposites" and why we need both of them (life and death, dark and light, male and female, material and spiritual,night and day, sciences and arts). We discussed the force generated by the attraction of these two "opposing" elements, as found in the power of electricity between two poles, or the love between two people. We also looked at binary and morse code, and the ability for communication and complexity latent in the simplicity of duality.

Three

Three is the beginning of complexity, mulitplicity and diversity. Three can be found in the family, in musical harmony, and the primary colours. The geometry of three is expressed in triangles, and can be found in natural examples such as the life cycle of frogs and newts, trillium leaves and flowers and clover.

I hope this is helpful for you! Or at least interesting. Numbers are fun, dag nabbit.

One of the foremost values of the Baha'i Faith is being of service to our communities. Right now, I am able to do this by heping to teach a spiritual development class for young children as part of an after-school program once a week. We have been using the Ruhi materials, but I noticed that a lot of what we've been trying to teach the children has been bouncing right back off of their exterior shells instead of being deeply absorbed and understood in their hearts and being. For several weeks, I have spent a lot of time wondering why. Gradually I came to see that these sweet children did not have a sense of themselves as spiritual beings. When we talked about prayers being food for their souls, they were sitting there wondering what on earth a soul was. I also saw that these children have been through a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot: two of them have lost parents in the last year, one of them has suffered sexual abuse. If there is one thing we could show them, I thought it should be how precious, noble and beautiful the soul of a human being is. How this is their true and eternal reality.

This class is also very challenging as it ranges in age from four to almost eight, and there are a lot of behavioural and (how should I put this?) energy issues. We have been doing the Ruhi Children's Classes for Grade One, but this week we are stepping back a bit and doing a pre-Ruhi background and foundation laying class or two. At least, that is what I'm calling it. The Ruhi classes assume, I think, that the children already have a sense of themselves as spiritual beings, and I have found that for our class, we really need to stop and spell this out. I don't know if anyone else has had similar experiences, but I thought I would share this on the off chance that anyone else finds it helpful. I would also love to hear what others have learned or can add.

Today's class was on the five kingdoms of God. These kingdoms are divided into mineral, vegetable, animal, human and spiritual.

We began our class, as always, with a short round of prayers offered by the children. I then brought out today's quote in a special silver tube:

We discussed how God made us because He loves us. That we are made out of love. The children were so excited by this! They kept calling out one another's names, and then their siblings and teachers saying, "God made so and so because He knew that the world would be so much better with them in it and He loves them!" Very quickly they were saying, "God made all of us, and He loves all of us!"

Then we talked about what it means when something is engraved. I showed them how the images engraved on the silver tube were part of it. They couldn't erase them, even if they wanted to! So we have an image of God engraved inside of us, and one way to think about this image is as that part of us that is spiritual, our soul. I think this is a bit harder to understand, and I didn;t expect all of them to fully grasp it, but I think they did relate to the fact that there is something special and beautiful inside each of them that can't be taken away.

I then pointed out that God has made a lot of things, but human beings are really different and special. This led into the discussion of the five kingdoms.

First, I handed each child a felt square and said "This is for the mineral kingdom." I let each child choose a stone and a "jewel" from the treasure chest. We briefly discussed what the attributes of the mineral kingdom are as they arranged things on their squares (they simply are, they provide nourishment and building blocks for everything else like in minerals and the soil).

I gave each child another square and said "This is for the vegetable kingdom." I placed some wooden trees and mushrooms inside a bag and let each child pull some out in turn. We discussed that plants are alive, and that they can grow and have fruit, etc.

Their next square was for animals. Again, I placed some animal figures inside the bag and let them choose two each. We talked about how animals can run and move, and how they have senses.

For the human kingdom, I let each child draw out a peg figure, and we talked about how human beings can think, can feel, can know and love God. We can learn about Him and manifest all of His qualities and attributes (through justice, service to others, study, prayer, etc). We talked about how funny it would be to see a bear saying his prayers, etc. What makes us so different and special is our souls.

Finally, we talked about the spiritual kingdom. This kingdom is no longer bound by physical reality, and is the kingdom where the manifestations of God, such as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Baha'u'llah belong. I set up a pretty silk cloth in the middle of the tabe and we arranged a rainbow on it as a reminder that God always sends us these teachers and gives us hope and light as a sign of HIs love for us.

The material kingdoms, the minerals and vegetables and animals, can all die and fade away. Our bodies, which are part of these kingdoms, die too. But our souls, which are spiritual in nature, do not die, but remain pure and bright in the spiritual reality.

Then we packed it all away, and I sang the children this song about the five kingdoms:

I'll sing you a rock, can it grow, can it walkCan it do anything but be?No it can't grow or walk `cause it'sOnly a rock in the sand by the side of the sea.It's in the Mineral Kingdom, the MineralKingdom, the Mineral Kingdom of God. (2x)

I'll sing you a tree can it walk, can it see,Can it grow and bear fruit and be green?Yes, it surely can grow,No it can't move or knowThough it be the best tree you've ever seenIt's in the Vegetable Kingdom, the VegetableKingdom, the Vegetable Kingdom of God. (2x)

I'll sing you a frog, and a cat, and a dog,And I'll sing you an elephant, too.They can grow, the can be, they can walkThey can see,But they are not quite as special as you.They're in the Animal Kingdom, the AnimalKingdom, the Animal Kingdom of God. (2x)

I'll sing you a boy with his heart full of joyAnd I'll sing you a happy girl too,They can run, they can grow, they can thinkThey can knowThey can learn about God just like you.They're in the Human Kingdom of God, the HumanKingdom, the Human Kingdom of God. (2x)

I'll sing you song that will help you along,So you'll always remember God's loveHe wants us to know Him and love Him and soHe sends teachers of truth from above.They're in the Spiritual Kingdom, the SpiritualKingdom, the Spiritual Kingdom of God. (2x)

They acted out each verse as I sang it, and shouted the kingdom name during the chorus. There was lots of leaping about waving play silks and dancing and shouting, which is only to be expected. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, I let them carry on with their play-acting for the rest of class.

Next class, I hope to have each child draw a self portait that shows them as a spiritual being who is able to express all the attributes of the kingdoms below it, as well as receive the bounties of the spiritual kingdom.

I've done a more extended and intensive version of this with my own children, and I hope that this has helped our class to deepen their self-awareness and add a bit of a new perspective. Unfortunately, we won't have class next week due to Thanksgiving, but I am hoping that when we meet again we can continue to explore who we truly are.

We needed a slow morning, a gentle start, time for each of us to simply be in our own space and on our own time. New yogurt with raspberry sauce, reading, the last phone call from Simon for three weeks as he travels to Malawi, my lilac finally blooming through the kitchen window.

When we finally all roused ourselves, the children were in a MOOD. Goofy, silly, exuberant, (maniacal?). Not a minute passed without giggling leading to hysterics. This sort of energy leaves me wary. I asked them to gather and come out to help in the garden. I mowed the lawn, stained my hands green, and added a thick green layer to the compost bin. The children worked on pulling grass and laying out leaves in the woodland bed. They were awful. They whined and fought and teased each other mercilessly and complained. I was almost in tears. To be fair, though, it was mostly Asher and Bella. Ana figured out what was what and beat a hasty retreat. Finally, I cordonned off areas, designated work procedures, and generally treated them like (naughty) four year olds. Ana helped nudge them in the right direction, and I went inside to put plasters on my newly acquired blisters (we don't seem to have any dignified plasters in this house).

I think tea fixes everything. It must. Well, I have to put my faith in something, and there are few things lovelier than tea. So I made us tea for lunch, and soon the grumpiness once more gave way to giddiness. A bit too much giddiness (practising French gave way to "do you think i can lick the dirt off of my elbow?!"). Sigh. I did try to remind them it was a Holy Day. Time to get moving.

On the drive up to Grandma's, they began to settle into jolly excitement, and that I can handle. Asher observed that two odd numbers added together always make an even. He is right. I had never thought of that. Clever boy. We admired Daddy's favourite hill. We stopped to watch the bees on the edge of the hazelnut orchard, so very busy in their oak grove. The children ran up and down the rows of trees for a bit before I let them back into the car.

On arriving, I did warn my mother that the children were in fine form. They were sent to the mailbox, but that didn't prove sufficient exercise. Further tea helped a bit, followed by a walk to inspect what is blooming (the cammas isn't quite yet) and a scramble up and down the fallen tree.

We rounded them up and went to celebrate the Ninth Day of Ridvan at Leslie and Kevin's. It was glorious. Delicious middle-eastern food, beautiful Writings, children singing, Bach on the piano, nightingale songs looped in the background, mounds of flowers...Asher and Bella sat in the "Narnia chair" and did not even poke each other during the program. A wealth of beauty and joy, laughter and peace.

And afterwards, a farm to frolic in and run around. Chickens and puddles of cats, gardens and friends, music and baby goats (sorry, no photos! I know!). We did not get home until almost nine, but it was worth every second that we lingered on. Some days fluctuate so much as they meander through their course, their rhythm seems so odd and different. I need to learn to have more faith in the shape of things, even if I don't immediately recognise it.

Also, I am now a day behind. I'm sorry, but an image-heavy post like this takes me around two hours, and I just don't have the time to keep up right now. I'll get there...

7:06 I slept in today! It is not a real morning without a morning snuggle from my boy. Quickly followed by tea with Mum, miso soup for breakfast, and a good while spent chatting in our pajamas. Saturday morning means weekly chores are finished up: floors swept and mopped, shopping lists made in preparation for the week, bedrooms and bathrooms all clean and tidy (although the children did their bath and bedrooms yesterday, which left more visitng with Grandma time today). 10:15 and we head out the door to get them to Children's Classes on time.

10:28 Children delivered, bank run made. Mum and I stop by the Farmer's Market to collect eggs and cheese, then walk down the street to our local bakery. Simon and I come here most Saturdays after dropping the children off. I am grateful for the company. We have a long talk, and excellent chocolate croissants. We also admire the old fir floors and the blue of the ceiling. We walk to the river to see how full it is (quite). We also stop by the magical book store. We leave empty-handed, but I vow to return soon with the children.

12:00 Children are met, and puppets they've been working on duly introduced. Maureen was born in 1847 and is grumpy. Sir Proboscus is ridiculous. Rango and Nemo seem to be up to no good whatsoever, but Fred (or was it Frank?) is thoroughly charming. We do the week's shopping on the way home. I am shamefully reminded that I need to figure out what happened to my mesh produce bags. Also, that six pound bag of candy is not for our consumption, thank you very much. We return home and have tuna fish sandwiches, well accompanied, for lunch.

Mum stays for a last cup of tea. We have a sad moment when Asher accidentally shoots the arrow over the fence. He has forgotten to face the barn, so it goes into the neighbour's yard. He feels awful and I hear him shouting tearful apologies before I even figure out what is happening. The neighbour, well-meaning, passes it back and remarks "It missed the dog by only six inches, you should be more careful!" Asher absolurely crumbles and runs upstairs where he hid in a ball in his closet. I explained that no harm had been done (no harm could have been done-- it was through a thick hedge and the arrow had no tip), and he had learned from his mistake. "Will you make that same mistake again?" I asked him. "Yes!" he wailed in despair. I assured him he would not, but it still took him ten minutes to emerge again, damp and somewhat bruised on the inside. As he gets bigger, I sometimes forget the sensitive wee boy who still lingers in his expanding frame.

2:00 Grandma headed out to visit Grandpa, and any number of domestic activities ensued. It was announced that the best way to slide down the stairs is in footie pajamas, so the girls spent the rest of the afternoon suitably attired. Ana dried lemon balm time for tea, screen time was had, yogurt was made, homework undertaken, great fun had with both dragons and dragon fruit; even the beloved pot was soundly scrubbed (I never promised a day in my life would be exciting-- only accurate).

4:00 I went out to the garden and filled the pots for the back (Asher always enjoys digging in the gravel).

We learned at the last minute that we were hosting Feast. Thank heavens I made a pie this morning and the chores were done. It began at 6:30. We retold the story of Ridvan as some of the children hadn't been at the previous Holy Day, and the boys ran riot in the backyard until the sun began to go down (after doing a wonderful job during the readings and prayers).

8:15 After sunset and ascertaining just how much progress Ana has made on the guitar (an astonishing amount), we climbed back into bed to watch an episode of Victorian Pharmacy, which seems to have inspired the slathering on of homemade lotion. Such a full day. Such a good day. I think I will sleep soundly tonight.